As part of the partnership between the Portuguese Diaspora Council and Jornal de Neg\u00f3cios, Jo\u00e3o Magalh\u00e3es, Chief Medical Officer at VIVA Health, part of Swiss Medical Network, shares insights into his personal and professional journey in Switzerland, as well as his reflections on Portugal\u2019s economic potential.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
1 \u2014 What led you to leave Portugal?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n What led me to leave Portugal was the fact that I am Portuguese.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Because to be Portuguese is to be of the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I left Portugal because I wanted to learn more about other systems and understand how different countries organize health care and their institutions. At the end of 2018, after completing my specialty, the opportunity arose to work as a family doctor in Frauenfeld, near Zurich. I decided to embrace the challenge and moved to Switzerland with my wife and our two daughters, who were still young at the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I also set out to expand my ability to contribute and to learn to look at Portugal from the outside: with greater demand, but also with a deeper awareness of its potential.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 2 \u2014 What advantages or disadvantages did the fact that you are Portuguese bring you?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The biggest advantage is waking up every day and remembering that I am Portuguese.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It is knowing that, with ambition, discipline and the ability to reinvent, we can be among the best in the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There is also another advantage: the way we relate to each other. We tend not to forget that the relationship with the other is not a means to an end. It is an end in itself. Perhaps the most fundamental end of life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This way of being gives us a natural ability to welcome, listen, create closeness and lead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Portugal is a true reserve of human leadership.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 3 \u2014 What obstacles did you have to overcome and how did you do it?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I arrived in Switzerland at the age of 33, without mastering the language and without knowing the system in which I would work. To communicate with colleagues and patients, I had to learn to master Swiss German, Italian and French, understand a new culture and adapt to a health care organization very different from the Portuguese one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Over the next eight years, we moved house twice more and I myself changed organisations two more, taking on progressively increasing levels of responsibility. Along the way, we bought a house and our third child was born. Each stage brought new demands and forced us to rebuild routines, relationships and references.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I learned, however, that adapting does not mean losing identity. It means knowing how to read the context, understand what it requires and evolve without ceasing to know who we are.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I also learned that, in health leadership, technical competence is indispensable, but not sufficient. It is necessary to understand people, organizations, incentives and governance models; to translate clinical knowledge into strategic decisions and transform these decisions into concrete results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Throughout the journey, I tried to keep the focus on the essential: the patient, the person.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 4 \u2014 What do you admire most about the country where you are?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n What I admire most about Switzerland is the ability to keep everything so spotless: clean, safe and organized.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The quality of a country is often revealed in the little things: in the public space, in the respect for schedules, in the care with what is common and in the way the systems work even when no one is supervising them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I also admire the way Switzerland preserves this culture, despite its strong internationalisation. It welcomes people, companies and influences from all over the world, without losing its sense of order, responsibility and identity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It is not a country without problems; but there is an institutional maturity to recognize them, measure results and correct course. This ability to look at reality without dramatizing is, for me, one of its greatest strengths.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 5 \u2014 What do you admire most about the company or organization where you are?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n What I admire most about the Swiss Medical Network is the combination of size and openness to innovation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Size creates capacity. Openness to innovation determines what you do with that capacity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In health, innovating does not only mean introducing technology. It means better organizing care, improving results, and bringing strategy closer to clinical reality. It is at this intersection between medicine, management, and transformation that I believe I can add more value.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 6 \u2014 What recommendations would you give to Portugal and its entrepreneurs and managers?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Portugal should look more deeply at the customer experience and, in the public sector, at the citizen experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It is not enough to know if the service was provided. It is necessary to understand how it was lived: the waiting time, the clarity of communication, the attention received and the trust generated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In health, this reflection is urgent. Portugal has excellent professionals and an essential National Health Service, but faces difficulties in access, excessive waiting times, pressure on emergencies and lack of professionals in critical areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The answer requires better organization, accountability for results, and more effective coordination between the public and private sectors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 7 \u2014 In which sectors of the country where you live could Portuguese companies find customers?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I see three areas with particular potential in Switzerland: health and medical technologies, specialised engineering and high value-added digital services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Portuguese companies have technical competence, flexibility and the ability to adapt. But the Swiss market is conquered with proof, continuity and reputation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n They must position themselves not as cheaper alternatives, but as high-quality partners, capable of understanding the customer, executing rigorously and remaining after the sale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 8 \u2014 In which sectors of Portugal could companies in the country where you live want to invest?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I see two main areas: health and life sciences, and digital transformation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In health, there is an evident complementarity. Switzerland has capital, scientific knowledge and world-renowned companies in the areas of pharmaceuticals, diagnostics and medical technology. Portugal offers qualified professionals, recognized clinical institutions and conditions to develop research and new models of care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In digital transformation, including artificial intelligence, data and cybersecurity, Portugal has talent and good infrastructure. The challenge is to accelerate its practical application.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Swiss investment can add value not only through capital, but also through knowledge, international networks and the ability to scale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Portugal must assert itself as a place where Swiss precision meets talent, scientific capacity and openness to innovate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 9 \u2014 What is the competitive advantage of the country in which you live that could be replicated in Portugal?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n One of Switzerland’s great advantages is decentralization accompanied by accountability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The cantons have significant autonomy, but also accountability. Many decisions are made close to the communities and by those who know the local reality best.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Portugal could benefit from greater political, administrative and financial decentralisation, giving the regions more decision-making capacity and responsibility for results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In health, this would make it possible to adapt responses to the populations served, without losing national objectives of quality, access, and equity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Another essential element is the robustness of institutions. Structural reforms cannot start again with each political cycle. A competitive country sets priorities, measures results and stays the course.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 10 \u2014 Are you thinking of returning to Portugal? Why?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n In fact, I never felt that I had left Portugal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Portugal has never been, for me, just a geographical place. It has always been a way of being.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I was born in England and lived there for the first ten years, but my parents were Portuguese and we always spoke Portuguese at home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When we went to Portugal, I was often surrounded by my grandparents and dozens of uncles and cousins. I grew up in a Portuguese universe, in which I felt that the relationship with the other was not just a means to an end. It was an end in itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He would return to Portugal for a professional project with ambition, impact and capacity for transformation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Portugal needs to preserve the best of its health system \u2013 the universality and competence of professionals \u2013 but also to courageously face the problems and the difficulty in transforming strategy into execution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I would not return just to occupy a role. I would return to take on a relevant responsibility and help build something that would remain in the future.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As part of the partnership between the Portuguese Diaspora Council and Jornal de Neg\u00f3cios, Jo\u00e3o Magalh\u00e3es, Chief Medical Officer at VIVA Health, part of Swiss Medical Network, shares insights into his personal and professional journey in Switzerland, as well as his reflections on Portugal\u2019s economic potential. 1 \u2014 What led you to leave Portugal? What…","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":27710,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n